One of the basic principles which guide toy makers in their neverending quest for newer and more popular toys for young children is the realization that children enjoy mimicking or imitating the various actions of life which they see adults participating in as they go through their day. In accordance with this basic principle, practitioners in the art have found that children viewing food preparation and cooking activities by adults have a desire to imitate and mimic these activities themselves. In view of this popularity and need, practitioners in the art have endeavored to provide toy food cooking and preparation products. Several limitations exist, however, in the creation and provision of such toy products. For example, great care must be exercised in the structures utilizing heating or cooking elements to avoid the danger of burn injury to young children. In addition, the simulated food products themselves must be subjected to exhaustive safety inspection and consideration dealing with problems such as toxicity and the ever present danger of children ingesting simulated food products. Notwithstanding these limitations and difficulties, the pressure created by the extreme popularity of this market segment has continued to motivate practitioners in the toy arts to provide evermore realistic and exciting food preparation type toys.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,386 issued to Giordano, et al. sets forth a TOY SKILLET AND KNIFE HAVING SIMULATED SOUND PRODUCING CAPABILITIES in which a miniature frying skillet defines a simulated cooking surface have dielectric material areas formed thereon and an outwardly extending handle. A sound producing circuit within the handle responds to the presence of material within the skillet upon the cooking surface to produce a realistic frying sound thereby simulating the cooking of the material. Additional sound producing apparatus provides further sound enhancement such as the sound of a slicing knife or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,730 issued to Cooper, et al. sets forth a TOY OVEN having an interior simulated baking cavity within a toy oven housing. A tray within the baking cavity is operatively coupled to the oven door to be raised upwardly as the oven door is closed. A mold is suspended upon the upper surface of the baking cavity and defines a lower surface forming a mold member which replicates the upper surface of a baked food article. A dish having deformable simulated food material is positioned within the baking cavity upon the tray and raised by the operative mechanism as the toy is closed to be forced against the mold and have embossed thereon a simulated baking appearance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,753 issued to Robinson sets forth an APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC APPLICATION OF CONDIMENTS TO A SANDWICH having a computer control and a plurality of condiment material dispensers coupled to a computer controlled pump. A flexible spreader blade rotates over the condiment depositing area and is operated after each condiment deposit upon an underlying sandwich to smooth out the condiment material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,218 issued to Cresson sets forth a VENDING MACHINE FOR PREPARING AND DELIVERING HAMBURGERS which provides automatic operation for preparing and delivering hamburgers to a consumer utilizing a payment system. The vending machine includes an oven for cooking the meat portion, a first station for delivering rolls or bread to a conveyor and one or more successive condiment application stations followed by a wrapping or covering station.
U.S. Pat. NO. 4,202,260 issued to Weger sets forth an AUTOMATIC SANDWICH MAKING APPARATUS consisting of an upper and lower support for receiving and supporting a slice of bread. A sandwich station is formed on the lower support and apparatus is movable to lower the bread dispensing station. A selection panel controls the deposit of various condiments upon the sandwich bread as it is moved through the sandwich making stations.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have provided some measure of success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved toys which simulate the cooking process and which entertain and amuse young children.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved food preparation simulation toy. It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved simulated toy hamburger maker which avoids exposing the child user to the risk of burn injury while producing an edible food product which the child may consume.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a simulated toy hamburger maker for use in combination with a malleable food mixture and a plurality of generally disk-shaped food articles, the simulated toy hamburger maker comprises: mixing means for receiving the constituents of the malleable food mixture and for forming a generally uniform mixture thereof; simulated cooking means for receiving a quantity of the generally uniform mixture and for forming a disk-like patty thereof; and condiment means for receiving an edible extrudible food material and for depositing a quantity thereof upon one of the disk-like patties, the disk-like patty and the deposited extrudible food material being combined with a pair of the disk-shaped food articles to form a simulated hamburger.